Embattled first son Hunter Biden stood firm in his stance that he has never involved his father, President Joe Biden, in any of his business decisions while testifying at a closed-door hearing on Wednesday.
Hunter went under oath before the House Oversight and Accountability Committee and the Judiciary Committee amid speculation that his father used his political connections to enrich himself through his son's dealings, sparking an impeachment inquiry in Sept. 2023.
The 54-year-old was notably asked about a now-infamous WhatsApp message sent to a Chinese businessman in July 2017, RadarOnline.com has learned, in which he suggested that he was sitting next to his father while persuading the associate to take action.
"I am sitting here with my father and we would like to understand why the commitment made has not been fulfilled," Hunter wrote in the message days before the transfer of $5.1 million into Biden family-linked accounts.
"Tell the director that I would like to resolve this now before it gets out of hand, and now means tonight," Hunter's message to the CEO of a Beijing-based asset management firm continued, noting that if the matter was not handled, "I will make certain that between the man sitting next to me and every person he knows and my ability to forever hold a grudge that you will regret not following my direction."
During his testimony, Hunter confessed to being high or drunk when he sent the WhatsApp message, according to a copy of the statement obtained by The Washington Post. He also said that he sent it to the wrong recipient and that his father was not next to him as he claimed.
"I am here today to provide the Committees with the one incontestable fact that should end the false premise of this inquiry: I did not involve my father in my business," Hunter said while delivering his long-awaited deposition.
"Not while I was a practicing lawyer, not in my investments or transactions domestic or international, not as a board member, and not as an artist. Never," Hunter insisted while speaking before the GOP leaders of the inquiry.
Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, however, felt convicted in his belief that Hunter's closed-door deposition "proved several bits of our evidence."
"I think that the public hearing hopefully will clear up some discrepancies between some of the statements that were made between some of the associates and what we heard today," he said.
Hunter, for his part, told all those present that he had made mistakes over the years and "squandered opportunities and privileges that were afforded to me."
He said those shortcomings are his own and not a reflection of his father "who has done nothing but devote his entire life to public service and trying to make this country a better place to live."
Before his deposition this week, Hunter demanded that his testimony be given in public to avoid being taken out of context, and he may now get that chance.
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"For more than a year, your Committees have hunted me in your partisan political pursuit of my dad," he said during the hearing. "You do not have evidence to support the baseless and MAGA-motivated conspiracies about my father because there isn't any."